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The Tennessean

A federal judge ruled earlier this week that a song-theft lawsuit against country superstars Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood over their duet “Remind Me” could move forward.

Judge Aleta Trauger ruled that songwriter Amy Bowen, who performs as Lizza Connor, has established a plausible claim of copyright infringement by performers Paisley, Underwood and songwriters John Kelley Lovelace and Charles DuBois.

However, Trauger was clear that the court was not ruling as a matter of law that the defendants infringed on Bowen’s copyright.

According to Bowen’s complaint, in 2007 she wrote a song called “Remind Me” and then went on to perform it during a country music songwriting workshop at which Lovelace and DuBois were advisers.

Bowen alleges that Lovelace, DuBois and Paisley went on to write a song also called “Remind Me” in late 2010 or 2011.

At some point, Paisley, Underwood and Frank Rogers, the song’s producer, transferred their interests in the song to Sony Music Entertainment, which is also a co-defendant in the lawsuit.

Paisley and Underwood have argued that their “Remind Me” has a different melody, hook and lyrics than Bowen’s song.

With the exception of the words “remind me,” and “baby, remind me,” the lyrics of the two songs are different, according to the facts of the case filed in conjunction with Trauger’s ruling.

Trauger ruled that the question of whether Bowen’s claims of copyright infringement have merit will be decided at a later date in the proceeding, and no subsequent hearing date has been set.

Contact music business reporter Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 or nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.